Sing Me to Sleep
by OveliaGirlHaditRight
Summary: In being overcome with guilt, for his failings towards Kairi and Naminé (but mainly Kairi), Sora turns into Anti-Form because of it and tries to make things up to the girls. Between KHII and DDD. SoKai. Platonic SoNami (and KaiNami) here. Written for Sokai Week. This is the Light and Darkness prompt.


Anti-Sora had kidnapped both Kairi and Naminé...

How that had happened, Kairi wasn't entirely sure—seeing as how Naminé was supposed to still be assimilated with her—but here they were.

The only thing Kairi could figure, was that... this dark side of Sora had put some sort of sleeping spell onto her... and after he'd teleported them to the room that Kairi had been kept prisoner in, in The World That Never Was, he'd found some way to split her into two again.

Naminé, for quite a few reasons, was freaking out—a pain that Kairi felt as her own—but while Kairi was a bit scared that this Heartless part of Sora might try and steal their hearts... Kairi also had more faith in Sora than that.

And it occurred to her now, that both Naminé and herself were women that Sora had loved in some way... so—now that Kairi thought about it—she didn't think he could ever really hurt them.

In fact... perhaps him grabbing such lights, was Sora's own attempt to reach it again?

And that's exactly what Kairi told Sora—as she took Naminé's hand, to try and comfort her some—"Sora... are you in there somewhere? Desperately trying to reach out to Naminé or me?"

If Anti-Sora had understood her at all, Kairi didn't know.

But he did cock his head to the side, like a dog would, and put his hands on her shoulders… to try and steady himself?

One could have easily thought, that such a reaction hinted that he'd forgotten English entirely... and was just peering into her face, to try and figure out her meaning by facial expressions?

But Kairi didn't buy that... Maybe it was because she somehow knew Sora in any form that he was in, but she got the sense that Sora—in just having had an ADD moment, even like this—had just wanted to stare at her, as he tried to claw his way out of this.

Which made gooseflesh appear on Kairi's skin, because while they'd both done the cave drawing she had no idea where their relationship had gone from there... if anywhere.

Anyway, Naminé—seeming to finish connecting the dots that Kairi herself had been trying to—was quick to realize something, as she comfortingly petted some of Sora's locks as a school girl might her favorite dog:

"Kairi... I think you're right about Sora trying to reach out to us. He took us to where youwere imprisoned... but we were both one that. And Sora cared about both of us, and hated each situation we were in... So, what if he thinks he doesn't deserve the light, for letting us have gone through what we did? And so, he became Anti-form? "

But Sora's the one who chooses light, even as a Heartless, so he's now subconsciously trying to get it back the only way he can: by making those situations right."

Leave it to Naminé to figure all of this out—Kairi thought appreciatively, with the trace of a smile on her face.

Kairi hadn't known her Nobody for very long, but she did know that the blonde girl could always piece together facts that no one else could.

Kairi had doubts about her own strength, it was true, but she thought that maybe she knew more about heart, though…

And that was why she was able to tell that what Naminé was doing with Sora now—jumping onto his back, the way one would for a piggy-back-ride, and massaging the hair at the nape of his neck while he turned around and smiled at her—wouldn't be enough to make Sora feel better about her situation. Naminé's, yes. But her own, no.

…Kairi had only heard bits and pieces about the Castle Oblivion story… but she knew that Naminé had made Sora obsessed with her there—it hadn't been her fault, Kairi was aware. The Organization had made her do this—and because of that, Sora had cared greatly about her imprisonment… and had almost given up everything to save her and give her what she needed.

Sora must have had some regrets about leaving and forgetting her, Kairi could only guess, but for the most part—partially because he loved her: Kairi, and not Naminé—she knew that Sora was mostly okay with what had happened between the two of them: Hehad been Naminé's loyal dog there, and was being so again here.

And it was proven that Sora had now, with this, let go of his doubts about Naminé, when his smile turned into a full-blown grin: that Naminé's own face was quick to follow, as she began fading into Kairi again.

…Naminé must have gotten the catharsis that she'd needed from this, too. And Kairi felt it warming up her own heart, and with it much happiness for the white witch—as she felt with this, much like a young girl standing on the shore, with warm water washing against her feet.

…But Kairi understood that what she and Sora were going to have to go through now, wouldn't be that simple.

But seeming to want to get started on it, Anti-Sora walked over to Kairi slowly, deliberately; and once he was there, he took Kairi's face between his hands and hung his own head in shame.

It was only now—that Sora looked down, which prompted Kairi to do the same—that she really took in the purple prison cell she was in again…

It was quite small, in some regards—Kai knew this through Pluto having only been able to pad in the open space a few times, before being forced to turn right around again—and from the memory that Naminé was sharing with her now, Kairi was aware of the fact that her white room had been quite a big deal bigger than this…

And though the air conditioning had stopped working here, when Sora and Riku had destroyed most of this castle—so Kairi couldn't be frozen through these vents, like she had been for the many days she'd been trapped in here—Kairi's trauma made her still feel traces of it. And this "room" was cold on principle, anyway, for being so close to the darkness.

…There were many other sensory details Kairi could have listed about this place, that still gave her nightmares—the taste of acid it seemed to somehow put in her mouth, for one thing… the deafening quietness of it all, that wasn't at all like the sound of water, gulls, or sand from mountains falling into the sea, that she'd loved from the Islands—but Kairi didn't want to focus on her pain now.

She needed to focus on Sora's.

"Sora… I know you—especially in this form, probably, where you can touch all your insecurities…—have every reason to regret my situation here… But Riku and you saved me. Despite everything, I was fi- I am fine. And even… if you weren't as intent on me as you were Naminé—which is fine! None of us should want obsession in our lives…—I know when you said things like, 'We can take him on our own!' when I got locked behind that door… you knew that defeating Xemnas was the only way I could really ever be safe, and the two of us be together, and.."

But instead of helping Sora, it would seem that Kairi had instead struck a nerve in him. And now because of it, Anti-Sora was pulling away from Kairi and couldn't even look at her.

And how Kairi immediately missed the yellow orbs that had been staring at her—something that was usually associated with darkness, but spoke to Kairi of such light—and she even longed for the oddly placed smiles he had just been giving Naminé… Which, speaking of Naminé, gave her an idea.

Tugging on Sora's hand—the way she had done to him when he'd been a months older than her five-year-old, to ask him for some of the candy he'd somehow acquired—Kairi turned Sora to face her again, and implored him to work with her: "Sora… I don't have power over Corridors of Light… but I assume you do over darkness ones, right? So, can you take me back to where we all were… when we walked down that one corridor to fight Xemnas at first? Please?"

And in the end, the "please" was all Kairi had needed to say to make him Anti-Sora to comply to her request.

Well, that, and perhaps the puppy dog pout she'd given him.

But for whichever answer, Sora scooped Kairi up in his arms bridal style—and as Kairi's face got close to his, even in this demonic form of her best friend's, she found herself thinking that maybe this crush she'd been nursing for Sora had just turned into full-blown love… and he had no idea—and then they were gone.

Kairi had gone through Corridors of Darkness before, with Axel and Saïx. But with them, she had felt like all the air had been ripped out of her lungs and that she was being torn apart at the same time…

But somehow, with Sora, Kairi instead felt like an entirely new world was being painted before her, as he held her safely in his arms.

And then just like that, they were at the place Kairi had wanted them to be:

Something that actually sort of surprised her, since she thought it might actually be unstable with Kingdom Hearts no longer being connected to it.

But she was glad that that wasn't the case: This was the only way she could try and absolve Sora of one of his "crimes", and free him that way.

Attempting that just now, Kairi stood up on her tiptoes—when had Sora grown taller than her?—and grabbed ahold of Anti-Sora's mouth, and tried to get him to speak words for her:

"Oh, no!" she tried to mime with his lips, as she spoke this… partial joke herself, "Kairi's unconscious behind the door?! Let's go save her first, before going after Xemnas!"

And when Anti-Sora did try and say this himself, with some strange gargling noises coming out of his mouth as he did so—the first vocal thing she'd ever heard from Anti-Form, in fact—Kairi knew that this would work:

And perhaps even moreso, when Sora even began trying to sing them—as if to serenade her.

…Sora wasn't the best singer like this, Kairi heard—as he messed the tune up somewhere—but she still couldn't help but tilt her head back with her eyes closed, and to listen.

Then, just as he hit a high note, there was a bright light in the shape of a sphere—taking over Sora completely—and Kairi would have been scared for him, if she hadn't seen him enter and leave Drive Forms before. And in the end, Anti-Form wasexactlythat…

Now they'd even come full-circle: Kairi had first seen Sora turn into Anti—via their connected hearts—on this side of the door: this side of the door where he'd forgotten her for a moment, in his vendetta against Xemnas.

And now… Now in trying to fix that, he was Anti-Form from the get-go here, and was only turning back in being her everything.

And back Sora wasnow, with the sweetest smile Kairi had ever seen from him—and wasn't that saying something?—and he then stretched and yawned, as if just waking up from a dream: And in a sense, he must have been.

"K-K-Kairi?" Sora asked groggily, scratching at his eyes. "Is this one of my dreams? Like, when I imagined you waking me up again, before I saw that castle? …No, wait! We're at… Kingdom Hearts? Maybe? …But only bad things happen there, so is this a nightmare?!"

Kairi couldn't blame Sora for his confusion. But she didn't want him to be that, because if he didn't remember he had conquered his demons… would he bring those demons out again?

So kissing Sora on the cheek—something she'd done a few times before, that always made him flush. And it did this moment… up to his ears, in fact—Kairi took his hand in hers, and gently explained: "We just wound up here, Sora, and you took care of me—like you always do—but… the reason we were here is now over… so let's go home."

And it didn't escape Kairi's notice that she had said this to Sora once before… when he'd been more interested in what was going on with Riku at the time? So, would he unknowingly make up for that, too?

Sora looked at Kairi with wide eyes as her words finally hit his ears—probably in wondering if some new threat had developed to cause their "kidnapping"—but he calmed down, as Kairi chose to look at him once more with the puppy dog pout and yawned herself.

"Yeah, home sounds good. Let's go, Kai."

And here Kairi opted to actually focus on her light, which was something she had never done before—because her own powers sometimes scared her—and despite what she'd said earlier… she succeeded in making a Corridor of Light here and now, and whisked them happily away.


End file.
